The origin of the Placename Betlow

I was recently asked about the origin of the surname Betlow and whether it was associated with Betlow Farm, near Tring, in Hertfordshire. I replied:

Surnames only started in medieval times and spellings only started to be standardised after the invention of printing and in some cases current spellings (both surnames and place names) may be only a hundred years old.  As a result any analysis of the origins of a surname must involve a large degree of uncertainty.
Some surnames came into existance because someone was named after the place where they came from. It is therefore possible possible that your surname "Betlow" refers back to someone who lived at a place called "Betlow."
The earliest known reference to the Hertfordshire village/manor of "Betelawe"was in 1203 with other 13th century references being to "Betelowe," " Betelaue" and "Bettelawe." The village was abandoned in the Middle Ages (possibly due to the Black Death) and for many centuries all that remained of the manor was a single farm.

The Moat at Moat Farm, Marsworth, undoubtedly dug to drain the central area for the Farm

 "The Placenames of Hertfordshire" suggests that the placename probably was a descriptive term meaning Beta's mound or hill.  The area around Betlow Farm is vey flat - so it clearly doesn't refer to a hill. I haven't visited the Farm but I know much of the area would have been very wet in the past - perhaps even marshy - although moden drainage has lowered the water table. So it is possible that there was a slightly raised area which was drained well enough to build a house.  Not many miles away there are moated sites (often with no surviving buildings, where the effect of the moat was almost certainly to leave a dry area on which a wooden farm house could be built. In the nearby Village of Long Marston the old church is on a mound perhaps 3 feet higher that the surrounding fields - with the remains of a waterfiled moat close by - possible for that reason.

The Manorial Documents Register

Manorial Document Register

The Manorial Courts were an important part of any rural community, and the records of the courts can be very useful in tracking back family lines at a time when parish registers were not available. The problem is that even when they have survived they may be held in many different depositories - or even be in private hands. I am afraid I have tended to ignore them on this site because I don't have easy access, but a recent announcement about the Manorial Document Register had alerted me to the need to publicise them.

I did a quick search for several Hertfordshire manors: 

Tring - 57 entries - Mostly at HALS, some in the National Archives, a few in Lambeth Palace Library

Tring Rectory - 18 entries - all at HALS

Betlow (a  tiny ancient manor in the old parish of Tring where some of my ancestors were Lord of the Manor in Victorian Times) - 10 entries - most at HALS, two at British Library - none after 1695

Sandridge (One when I have actually worked with some of the original records) - 43 entries - most at the Northampton Records Office, more at HALS, others in the British Library and National Archives.

Of course the record only tells you where you need to go to see the original documents, many of which will be full of names - but unindexed. In addition many of the earlier ones will be in Medieval Latin, and even those in English could be in clerical hand - which need practice to read well. So manorial records are definitely not for those of you who expect everything to be indexed online in clear text ...

Hertfordshire Information on the Heritage Gateway

Yesterday Dr Isobel Thompson, of the Historic Environmental Unit at Hertfordshire County Council, gave a very interesting talk on the Hertfordshire Historic Environment Record which holds details of archaeological finds and investigations, and other sites and monuments up to the time of the Second World War. In addition there is a comprehensive collection of air photographs of the county covering the last 40 years. While much of the detailed information is not available online, some is available on the Heritage Gateway web site where a map will show locations of the sites records (and for monuments and some buildings brief information) However you can also see a list of the Hertfordshire records and get a summary of the site record.